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media advisory
friends of the earth International
world bank misses historic opportunity
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washington dc, august 3, 2004 -- The World
Bank Group today refused to improve the way
it operates. The Bank's Board decided to act
upon only very few among many concrete steps
recommended by a key report.
The Extractive Industries Review (EIR),
commissioned by World Bank President James
Wolfensohn, recently concluded that financial
support for projects in the oil, mining and
gas sectors have not led to direct poverty
alleviation. The EIR made specific
recommendations to improve the World Bank's
policies and practices. [1]
However, in a Board meeting today, World
Bank Management and its Board failed to
respond with concrete commitments to change
the way the Bank operates and ensure poverty
reduction results from its investments.
"The World Bank has ignored the EIR
recommendations and endorsed business as
usual," said Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth
US. "The EIR called for an 'extreme energy
makeover,' and the World Bank opted for a
cheap pedicure. It has missed a historic
opportunity to bring its lending more in line
with its mission to alleviate poverty."
The EIR report is a result of three years
of investigation paid for by the World Bank,
and initiated after Friends of the Earth
addressed Mr Wolfensohn at the institution's
annual meetings in 2000.
The report made many recommendations which
had the broad support of civil society
organizations as well as many in industry.
These included respecting human rights,
establishing a consent mechanism for affected
communities, protecting areas of high
biodiversity and ending financing for oil and
coal projects. The World Bank only took some
small steps in response, such as requiring
revenue transparency and disclosure of
information.
“The World Bank's response is a deep
insult for those affected by its projects.”
said Samuel Nguiffo of Friends of the Earth
Cameroon. “The Bank's Chad-Cameroon Oil
Pipeline shows why the EIR recommendations
are so fundamental. The project is pregnant
with as many undisclosed scandals as there is
sand on the beach”.
The World Bank refers to the Chad-Cameroon
Oil Pipeline as a model for poverty
alleviation, although it is quickly becoming
a model for misery. The Chadian government
spent a portion of the first proceeds on
military expenditures, worker's rights have
been violated, people lost their livelihoods
as a result of pollution, and impact
mitigation plans lack proper implementation.
“Oil projects like the Chad-Cameroon
pipeline generate more tears than smiles. The
Bank's response to the EIR means they have
not learned a single lesson from such
tragedies”, added Mr Nguiffo.
“The EIR provided a historic opportunity
to do things better, but the World Bank
dramatically failed to grab it,” said Janneke
Bruil in Amsterdam .
“Billions of misspent public dollars and
sixty years of outcries by people around the
world have not been enough. What more does it
take?” Friends of the Earth International
--the world's largest grassroots
environmental federation with 68 national
member groups in as many countries and more
than one million individual members-- is
strongly committed to non-violence.
for more information
contact
In Washington , DC : Jon Sohn
+1-720-308-7482 or
In Europe : Janneke Bruil, Coordinator
International Financial Institutions
Programme, Amsterdam , +31 6 52 118 998
or
In Cameroon : Samuel Nguiffo of Friends of
the Earth Cameroon + 237-222 38 57 or
notes to editors
:
[1] For more information on the The
Extractive Industries Review see
http://www.worldbank.org/ogmc/
http://www.foei.org/ifi
http://www.eireview.info
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